London is hard. My take on it was; People go there to "make it" and put huge pressure on themselves to, and as a result live to work. People end up socialising

London is hard. My take on it was; People go there to "make it" and put huge pressure on themselves to, and as a result live to work. People end up socialising pretty much only in work circles, and ex-work circles (including uni), a lot of the time because after work is the only time they're in proximity with their social group (as nobody lives closer than 30 mins to anyone else) As a freelancer I tried to fight this and floated from group to group. Looking back on my career, the best jobs/work were based almost solely on whom I was working with. Whilst its not a quick fix (finding the perfect place), if you can't leave london, my perspective would be to try and find an employer/job with people you enjoy being around. If a job is inevitable, spent 50 hours a week amongst people you want to be around. Money comes and goes. Sure housing is always good to have N-10 years ago.